Abu Zubaydah

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ABU ZUBAYDAH - PAGE 3

By Bob Drogin and Josh Meyer. Special to the Tribune. Bob Drogin and Josh Meyer are staff writers for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune newspaper | April 2, 2002

U.S. forces in Pakistan have taken custody of a Saudi-born militant believed to be so critical to Osama bin Laden's international terror network that he could help identify Al Qaeda cells and operatives around the globe. U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement officials confirmed Monday that they have netted Abu Zubaydah, one of bin Laden's top deputies and a potential suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Over the years, officials said, Zubaydah helped link bin Laden's inner circle with scores of terrorist groups in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

Despite deep skepticism about the credibility of captured Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, the U.S. intelligence community is taking seriously his claim that his organization has the capability of building a radioactive "dirty bomb," a U.S. official said Tuesday. American intelligence agents have undertaken a widespread search for evidence to corroborate the statement made to U.S. interrogators in an undisclosed location where the Pakistani militant has been held since his arrest last month, the official said.

By Matt Miller. Matt Miller is a senior fellow at Occidental College in Los Angeles | April 7, 2002

"There's no question but that having the opportunity to visit with him is helpful." Donald Rumsfeld, April 2 If we torture the terrorists, do the terrorists win? That's the question raised by the capture of Abu Zubaydah, one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants. Zubaydah is said to know the identities of thousands of recruits Al Qaeda trained and sent back to their home countries to await further orders. "We believe the sleeper cells were under his control," said one official.

For months, former Vice President Dick Cheney has argued that the value of the Bush administration's aggressive interrogation program was proven in two secret CIA memos that he urged to be released. But those documents, and others that were finally unsealed Monday, are at best inconclusive -- attesting that captured terrorists provided crucial intelligence on al-Qaida and its plans, but offering little to support the argument that harsh or abusive methods were key. The memos and a long-secret CIA inspector general's report also released on Monday filled in details about the agency's embrace of harsh methods to get prisoners to talk.

Why is it that those who proclaim their patriotism the loudest often demonstrate the least understanding of what this country stands for? Or to put it more accurately, what this country should stand for. Take the debate on torture. The disclosure that the CIA destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes of two prisoners being subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" is only the latest reminder of what is being done in our name. Pro-torture patriots who argue vigorously in favor of these techniques imply that their love of country is second to none because they are willing to use any means to defend it. They are not above questioning the patriotism of those who disagree.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Lawyers for a man who says the CIA held him in a secret prison in a Polish forest asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Monday to rule on his case because they say a criminal investigation run by Poland is going nowhere. The decision by lawyers for Saudi-born Abu Zubaydah to go to the court in Strasbourg raises fresh questions about how serious Poland is about investigating allegations that the CIA, as part of a global operation to detain suspected al Qaeda militants a decade ago, used facilities on Polish territory.

The Mexican government is distributing a comic-book guide that warns would-be migrants about the perils of crossing illegally into the U.S. and offers tips to stay safe--enraging some advocates of stricter immigration policies in the U.S. who argue the booklet encourages illegal migration. About 1.5 million copies of the pocket-size book were distributed as a free supplement in comic books popular with adults. The booklets also are available online and at Mexican consulates in the U.S. ABUSE PROBE: The U.S. military command that runs the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has opened an investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse outlined in recently released FBI documents, officials said Wednesday.

(Reuters) - A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Friday for blowing a CIA agent's cover, the Justice Department said. John Kiriakou's sentence as part of a plea agreement marks the first time in 27 years that someone has gone to prison for disclosing a covert CIA agent's name. Kiriakou was sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, a Justice Department spokesman said. He had pleaded guilty in October to one count of disclosing an agent's identity.